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“Slow,” I repeated to myself and breathed deeply, “this is supposed to go slowly,” as I sat in a planning meeting at Barrel´s, my local community market and purveyor of great food grown close by. I was debating organizational structure and mission/profit tensions alongside a twenty-something organic grower, the founder of a successful national company, a college student, a professor, several employees, a local accountant and nonprofit executive. It´s not easy for us MBA types to slow it down, but when it comes to Slow Money, boy is it worth getting the full buy-in and the invaluable insights of everyone who´s at the table. Listening, respecting and actively seeking a diversity of perspectives is a big part of what´s making the Slow Money movement gain such steam in Maine and around the country…. with philanthropists and farmers alike.

Slow Money brings together an inspiring mix of people, capital and know-how to help develop healthy food systems, with a focus on small, local, sustainable, and of course, slow. Curious about why slow? What is Nurture Capital? How are some family foundations thinking about Slow Money? What´s the Soil Trust? Who´s big enough to play a part? What are “Credibles” (aka edible credits)?

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“Respecting Legacy, Revolutionizing Philanthropy”. What a great title for the new nextgendonors.org report! The authors surveyed 310 Gen X and Gen Y’ers from families with more than $5 million in assets endowed for charity. “Respecting Legacy, Revolutionizing Philanthropy” speaks to the continuity in values we often hear the younger generation express …. and to their hunger to get involved, to try new models and to just plain move faster!
Whom do you know who exhibits these traits the Next Gen study identified?

Driven by values, not valuables
This is the same generation that won’t sacrifice family and personal time for a big paycheck. They aren’t all about money and they want their giving to reflect their personal values. And these values are highly influenced by what they learned about philanthropy from their parents (89%) and grandparents (63%)

Impact firstGen X and Gen Y givers want to be sure their giving is making a difference. They consider themselves responsible and strategic givers. They feel strongly about doing their “due diligence” and trying innovative approaches. They even dare to ask the daunting “so what?” question: “How has the situation really improved as a result of our grant?” They want to look at metrics and outcomes, even when they know those measure aren’t perfect, because they take their giving seriously.

Time, treasure, talent and tiesTomorrow’s big donors like be involved in hands-on ways in the causes they support. They want to do more than write a check. They believe they have relevant skills and knowledge to contribute and the relationships they build along the way matter to them. This generation also recognizes that their social networks are valuable, very valuable! They want to connect their friends, colleagues, even their service providers, to the work they care about. They are networked in almost everything they do. Their giving is no exception.

Crafting their philanthropic identitiesAlthough they tend to be very clear about their passions and desire to make the world a better place, Gen Ys, in particular, are still finding their way and still figuring out how to negotiate their roles in their family’s giving, roles that evolve as they go to work or become parents themselves. Their preferred method of learning is experiential. They don’t want to just read dockets; they want to go on site visits. They are more likely to value unscripted conversations with grantees than formal presentations, to do their own research and to ask more challenging questions than then their older counterparts. And they are not waiting until they are given permission to join the family foundation board to define themselves. They are experimenting and shaping their personalities as givers even as you read this post.

The #NextGenDonors survey tells a pretty exciting story. Let’s reach out and include these emerging philanthropists in all that we do!

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The question came from my ten-year old in the back seat of the car as we were driving to the supermarket. It wasn’t quite out of the blue. The day before we had been talking about the 300,000 euro bonus each player on the Spanish national team received for having won The European Cup… and that there was a movement asking the players to donate what their winnings to nonprofits in Spain, where things are quite tough right now. And Alex knows what I do for a living.

So I had to answer, right then and there, from the driver’s seat. Honestly. “No, I wouldn’t give it all away. First I would make sure that we had enough money so Read More →

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There´s no wizardry involved, just find a way to tie philanthropy into what your child or grandchild already loves to do!

That´s the formula that´s working for the Harry Potter Alliance: Channel enthusiasm into a force for good. Founded in 2005, this community minded fan club has 100.000 active members organized into 90 volunteer chapters. To date they´ve donated more than 90,000 books to developing countries, sent 5 cargo planes of aid to Haiti, and worked to prevent genocide and promote fair trade chocolate (one of Harry´s favorite treats.)

“Did you ever wish that Harry Potter was real? Well it kind of is”. The Alliance website immediately captures the imagination, then enables fans to tap into their inner Dumbledore, Hermoine, and of course Harry Potter. One college chapter modeled a clothing drive for Goodwill after Harry Potter character Hermoine´s sock campaign to free a House Elf… and the donations came pouring in.

“See all of the energy that´s already there. Then imagine taking that excitement and harnessing it toward social good” says HP Alliance founder Andrew Slack. In March he used that same thinking to motivate fans of the Hunger Games to join Oxfam international to work to end hunger off the screen with a “Hunger is not a Game” campaign.

How can you apply Harry Potter thinking to get the young people in your family excited about philanthropy? The first step is identifying and appreciating (not belittling) the source of their enthusiasm, whatever it is. Read More →

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Our newest post on Latest from Alliance: The next generation’s ambitions and sense of what’s possible in the world of social change have grown dramatically over the last twenty years. This evolution was patent in the halls of Spain’s IESE business school at the latest edition of their student-run ‘Doing Good and Doing Well’ European conference. College students and young MBAs in Europe and North America have moved from being mere observers to actors, from interested consumers to ‘investors’ in social change initiatives. And I believe their vision of businesses’ role in social change has played a significant role in this evolution.

As family and foundation leaders, we need realize that today’s generation wants …Read the full post in Latest from Alliance

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The scene was the first large-scale conference on family philanthropy in Spain. 160 hand-picked attendees with ties to significant family businesses were in the audience. What did I see from behind the podium as I spoke? Families, curiosity and tradition.

I’m at home in Spain, my business partner is Spanish and I have worked in Spain’s philanthropic sector for years. But I cut my teeth on philanthropy in the US, so I can’t help but have something of an outsider’s perspective. There may be other examples out there, but three things stood out for me last week.

Families. Families are front and centre in almost every aspect of Spanish society and culture, and philanthropy is no exception. The audience was made up of groups of sisters, aristocratic-looking grandfathers and mothers who had insisted on their grown children accompanying them, as well as dressed businessmen and couples of all ages. In contrast with family philanthropy conferences I’ve attended in the US, there were very few (if any) non-family professional foundation staff in the audience.

In Spain, ‘strengthening the family’ is one of the most common motivations for a family to move from spontaneous and generous, but often ad-hoc, individual giving to a philanthropic process that is more structured and thoughtful. Family harmony and continuity in the family business are at the forefront of everyone’s mind …